


What You Make of It

by MontanaHarper



Category: Johnny Maxwell - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Background Slash, Epistolary, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-22 01:49:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/604497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MontanaHarper/pseuds/MontanaHarper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's their Gap Year and everything is different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What You Make of It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [busaikko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/busaikko/gifts).



> I hope I've managed to do justice to your request, busaikko. Merry yuletide!

**From:** Yo-less  
 **Sent:** Sun 12Sep1999 4:37 PM (UTC -6)  
 **To:** JohnnyM  
 **Subject:** Arrived safely

Johnny,

One of the marine biology interns has a laptop and is willing to let the rest of us check e-mail on it if we're quick, so I'll not be as out of touch as I'd expected.

It's absolutely gorgeous here, though I don't know how much time I'll have for sightseeing. Apparently we've Sundays off, but Carlos (owner of the aforementioned laptop) says we'll likely be too knackered to do much after the hard labour they've planned for us during the week. I suspect it wasn't meant as a joke, either, so if I haven't e-mailed in a fortnight, you can console my mum with the knowledge that at least I died for a good cause.

Dive lessons begin tomorrow. If all goes well, I'll be certified this time next week. 

~D

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Mon 13Sep1999 9:28 AM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** RE: Arrived safely

They'd never let you die of overwork. It'd be bad for public relations. 

I suppose a giant man-eating shark would be out of their control, though, so you ought to watch out for those. (Joking!)

More later. Won't do to be late for my first day at work.  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Mon 13Sep1999 7:02 PM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** More, as promised

First day was mostly spent alphabetising and shelving the hundreds upon hundreds of used books Mr A has taken in trade over the past few months. And sneezing. Quite a lot of sneezing, actually.

Met Wobbler and Bigmac for lunch at the burger bar. It was almost like old times. Or last week, take your pick.

Wobbler says he's starting at his uncle's place next week. Bigmac reckons this means we'll get free pints when we go in. Wobbler's aunt has eyes like a hawk, though, so I'm not counting on it.

Bigmac's been hanging about the mall every day. Your mum's given him until the start of October to find something productive to do or she says she'll give him a mop and put him to work at the hospital.

Kirsty's already back at Uni and sending me a dozen single-sentence emails daily. I'll pass on anything vital.

Time to put the frozen lasagne in the oven or there won't be dinner for Mum and Grandad.  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** Yo-less  
 **Sent:** Thu 16Sep1999 9:12 PM (UTC -6)  
 **To:** JohnnyM  
 **Subject:** Re: More, as promised

Johnny,

Dive lessons are going swimmingly. Carlos says I'm a natural.

The classroom study portion was Monday through Wednesday, and today was confined water dives in a calm natural pool just offshore. Tomorrow and Saturday we do open water dives around the reef. 

They're putting us up in an old hostel that's been renovated for the exclusive use of expedition volunteers. It's not much different from any other hostel: a half dozen bunk beds per room, self-serve kitchen and laundry facilities, showers and toilets on each floor. Not exactly all the comforts of home, but not as rough as it could have been.

Ava went round to everyone on Monday and then posted a meal-prep/clean-up rota in the kitchen Tuesday morning. My name's up on Wednesday; just wait 'til they try my beans on toast.

~D

P.S. I'm not Wobbler; you're not going to frighten me with Jaws jokes.

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Fri 17Sep1999 8:43 AM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** RE: Re: More, as promised

Swimmingly? Really? Why am I friends with you again?

Ava sounds a bit Kirsty-ish. 

And *no one* will need to worry about giant man-eating sharks if you kill them with your so-called cookery.  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Fri 17Sep1999 6:22 PM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** RE: Re: More, as promised

There's been a girl hanging round the book shop lately. She's American, and a bit odd, but nice. Never buys anything, but I reckon one person who comes in and doesn't buy anything isn't any different from all the people who don't come into the shop at all. 

I'm nearly done with shelving the backlog of stock. Mr A says he's going to leave me on my own come Monday. He's given me a key to the shop and the combination to the safe for the daily receipts. Apparently he's got to go down to London next week on business. I hope he's not buying more books. The shelves are creaking as it is.  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** Yo-less  
 **Sent:** Sun 19Sep1999 10:33 AM (UTC -6)  
 **To:** JohnnyM  
 **Subject:** Re: RE: Re: More, as promised

Johnny,

I'm the last person whose cookery you ought to be worrying about. Last night was some sort of stewed iguana, courtesy of Luis. Kev refused to eat it and got roped into making bacon sandwiches for anyone else who was a bit squeamish. The iguana wasn't too bad, though. Tasted a bit like chicken.

As for the girl, you do attract the odd ones, don't you? She's probably an Aztec princess or something. 

Next week is a crash course in identifying reef wildlife, to teach us how to tell a manta ray from a stingray from a giant man-eating shark. Carlos's loaned me a book with colour photos so I can get a head start.

~D

P.S. I've got my official diving certification! Going out on a pleasure dive this afternoon with Carlos to celebrate.

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Sun 19Sep1999 4:57 PM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** RE: Re: RE: Re: More, as promised

Unless Aztec princesses are called Temperance, she's probably not one.

How'd your first real dive go?  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** Yo-less  
 **Sent:** Sun 19Sep1999 11:51 PM (UTC -6)  
 **To:** JohnnyM  
 **Subject:** Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: More, as promised

Johnny,

Maybe Temperance is just what her Aztec name translates to in English.

The dive was great. Carlos knew a quiet little spot nobody ever goes to, and we had a proper picnic on the beach after, out of a hamper and everything. It wasn't anything too fancy – just cheese and bread and fruit – but we split a very nice bottle of wine and the sunset was unbelievable.

~D

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Mon 20Sep1999 8:14 PM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** Temperance

I take it back. Not that she's actually an Aztec princess, but she's not your typical girl, either.

She came into the shop this morning. The more we talked, the more she reminded me of someone, but I didn't put it together until after we'd gone for lunch at Wobbler's uncle's pub. (Watching Wobbler pull pints and try to keep orders straight was an hour's entertainment at least.)

Temperance reminds me of Mrs Liberty, from the cemetery. I mean, she's definitely not a ghost or anything, but sometimes she gets a blank look like she doesn't understand what I'm talking about. She's only about our age, but when it comes to modern things she seems a bit...at sea? 

Bigmac made up flyers for dog walking and posted them all over the high street. He might even have got some takers, if Sergeant Comely hadn't made him tear them all down again.  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Mon 20Sep1999 8:22 PM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: More, as promised

Hang about. Did you and Carlos go on a *date*? A scuba-diving and picnicking *date*?  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Tue 21Sep1999 9:56 PM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: More, as promised

Yo-less?  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** Yo-less  
 **Sent:** Wed 22Sep1999 5:13 PM (UTC -6)  
 **To:** JohnnyM  
 **Subject:** Re: Temperance

Johnny,

If Temperance isn't an Aztec princess nor a ghost, maybe she's Amish? You said she was an American, right? I read that the Amish do their own version of a Gap Year where they go off and discover the modern world. It's meant to help them decide whether or not to dedicate themselves to the Amish way of life, I think. 

I'm up on the kitchen rota, so it's beans on toast for one hundred tonight. I wonder how long it takes to make two hundred slices of toast.

~D

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Thu 23Sep1999 8:48 AM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** RE: Re: Temperance

It turns out she's not Amish, she's fictional.

Don't ask me how that works.

She's apparently from a book called _Yankee Drums_, which is about the American Civil War.

How long does it take to make two hundred slices of toast?

(Are we not talking about the other thing? Because it's okay if that's what it was, you know.)  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** Yo-less  
 **Sent:** Thu 23Sep1999 7:52 AM (UTC -6)  
 **To:** JohnnyM  
 **Subject:** Re: RE: Re: Temperance

Johnny,

This is one of your things, isn't it? Like the aliens and the Loch Ness Monster and the floating newspaper? I feel like I ought to be humming the theme to the Twilight Zone. And why is she in Blackbury instead of safely between the covers of her book?

I cannot believe I just typed those words.

To answer the toast question: Longer than expected. Some impatient people ended up having beans on bread, instead, and Ava has taken me off the meal-prep portion of the kitchen rota. I'm on cleaning duty twice a week now, but Carlos has offered to help out.

(Don't say anything to my mum. Please.)

~D

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Thu 23Sep1999 6:15 PM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** RE: Re: RE: Re: Temperance

I haven't a clue why or how she got out of the book in the first place, but she's still here because she doesn't want to go back. 

(I won't. Would she really mind, though?)  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** Yo-less  
 **Sent:** Thu 23Sep1999 8:36 PM (UTC -6)  
 **To:** JohnnyM  
 **Subject:** Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Temperance

Johnny,

You can hardly blame her, can you? If Yankee Drums is at all historically accurate, she lives in the middle of a war, in a time before vaccines, antibiotics and blood transfusions. The mortality rate is probably horrific. 

Have you talked to Wobbler or Bigmac about it at all? Or, and I hate to even suggest it, maybe Kirsty?

Today was the last day of classroom work – aquatic mammals – and tomorrow we're going out in small groups to see if we can identify fauna as it swims by. Carlos's been quizzing me on our afternoon dives, so I'm confident I've got it memorised, even all the different species of moray eel.

Speaking of Carlos, he's taking me for a late dinner at a little restaurant that's apparently really popular with the locals. I sense more iguana in my future, or possibly something even more unexpected. 

(Not mind, as such, but. She'd be disappointed. I don't know if I could bear her being disappointed. And it's not as though it's anything serious.)

~D

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Fri 24Sep1999 9:02 AM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** Not serious?

You do realise that I've only got a single email from you where you *don't* talk about Carlos? And that was the one where you were avoiding talking about the fact that you'd gone out on a date with him?  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Fri 24Sep1999 7:42 PM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Temperance

I think it's more that she's discovered things like feminism and women's trousers. 

We've got a copy of _Yankee Drums_ in the shop, and I tried to read it but it's more than half blank. I'm not certain if all the copies are the same, or if it's because she came out of this one specifically. I'm going to the library in the morning.

Wobbler is treating me and Bigmac to lunch tomorrow at the burger bar, in celebration of his first paycheque. I'm not sure either of them would believe me. After the thing with the the yeti, I sort of stopped telling them about the weirder stuff.

Kirsty is an absolute last resort.  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Sat 25Sep1999 1:08 PM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** Yankee Drums

The library copy is half-blank, just like the one in the shop. I showed it to Temperance.

According to her, the short version of the plot is: Boy goes to war, boy's sister waits at home and does needlework, boy is injured and sent home just before the war ends. 

She's got some rather scathing things to say about all the needlework.  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Sun 26Sep1999 9:27 PM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Temperance

Problem solved!

Temperance has returned to the pages of _Yankee Drums_.

(Back to the parentheticals, I guess. If I don't hear from you by mid-week, I'm really going to start worrying.)  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** Yo-less  
 **Sent:** Mon 27Sep1999 1:16 AM (UTC -6)  
 **To:** JohnnyM  
 **Subject:** Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Temperance

Johnny,

How did you get her to go back? 

(Sorry, I wasn't really avoiding you. I just needed some time to think about what you'd said.)

~D

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Mon 27Sep1999 8:29 AM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Temperance

There are some things you have to do, but you don't always have to give up what you want in order to do them.

Temperance *had* to return to her novel. It wasn't a proper book without her in it. She *wanted* to stay here, with trousers and a distinct lack of Young Ladies of Good Breeding doing endless needlework and waiting around for men to accomplish things. 

I suggested she could put on trousers and go *be* one of the men accomplishing things, instead. Like that woman reporter who dressed as a man and joined the army to fight in World War I.

Admittedly, _Yankee Drums_ is an entirely different book now, but it's complete. She gets to be the protagonist instead of just a secondary character, and it's probably a much more interesting story than the original. I bet Kirsty would like it better, at least.

(We don't have to talk about it.)  
_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** Yo-less  
 **Sent:** Mon 27Sep1999 8:04 PM (UTC -6)  
 **To:** JohnnyM  
 **Subject:** Week Three

Johnny,

Today was our first official day identifying marine species and collecting data on the reef. We had a little excitement when Jenna made friends with a jellyfish, but she's fine and now everyone is extra careful about spatial awareness in all directions, not just the ones we're used to when on the ground.

We were divided into "pods" of ten volunteers and one local marine biology intern. Our pod leader is Gabriella, the youngest of the interns. She's a bit Kirsty-ish in that she started Uni early and is really smart; she's much kinder, though, which is especially good because Petey is like a perpetually startled field mouse at the best of times.

Dinner tonight was an amazing seafood soup. I might sneak into the kitchen after lights-out and replace Ava's meal-prep rota with one that has only Gary's name on.

~D

* * *

 **From:** JohnnyM  
 **Sent:** Tue 28Sep1999 7:22 PM  
 **To:** Yo-less  
 **Subject:** RE: Week Three

Maybe Gary will teach you how to cook?

Mr A is back from London and seems happy, even though there were barely any sales last week. I thought I saw him leafing through _Yankee Drums_ at one point, but if he knows it's different to when he left, he hasn't said anything. 

I probably ought to buy it and take it home, just in case.

Mum went out for dinner with what Grandad calls "a gentleman friend" on Saturday and came home late and laughing like I haven't heard in years. Looks like maybe we're reaching the end of Trying Times.

_____  
Johnny Maxwell  
jmax@blueyonder.co.uk

* * *

 **From:** Yo-less  
 **Sent:** Thu 30Sep1999 (UTC -6)  
 **To:** JohnnyM  
 **Subject:** Re: RE: Week Three

Johnny,

After the disaster with the beans on toast, Carlos offered to teach me to cook. If things are still going well between us at the end of Week Twelve, I'm planning to stay on with him for a bit. 

I'll wait until then to tell my mum, though.

The last few days have been essentially the same as Monday, sans jellyfish. Unless someone falls prey to a giant man-eating shark, it should be pretty routine for the next ten weeks.

~D

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot possibly thank [**casspeach**](http://archiveofourown.org/users/casspeach) enough. She betas, Britpicks, cheerleads, holds my hand, and just is basically my lifeline when I'm writing.
> 
> Also, many many thanks to [**KnightofDragon**](http://archiveofourown.org/users/KnightofDragon), who spent a ninety-minute car ride brainstorming and fleshing out plot ideas with me on his birthday after I picked up a last-minute pinch hit.


End file.
